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Re: Another Microsoft XML patent

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: Another Microsoft XML patent
• From: Rick Marshall <rjm@z...>
• Date: Tue, 07 Jun 2005 08:08:15 +1000
• In-reply-to: <42A45C5D.1020801@w...>
• Organization: Zenucom Pty Ltd
• References: <20050606135515.2F2DC3FD1C@m...> <42A45C5D.1020801@w...>
• User-agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.6 (X11/20040502)

Karl Waclawek wrote:

> Michael Kay wrote:
>
>> No one has a right to sit back and say "that's our territory for the 
>> next 25
>> years, you're not allowed in". If ideas could be protected like that,
>> Microsoft and Amazon would not exist, and Seattle would be a poorer 
>> place.
>
>
> Totally agree.
>
> In addition, if an idea is used by someone after it has been
> publicized by someone else, that still does not mean that
> the idea has been stolen!
>
> More often than not, ideas are re-invented rather than stolen,
> and the more obvious a patent is, the easier it is to re-invent.

historically that seems to be the case - someone has a law regarding 
this. and it's not just limited to liebnitz/newton, or the tragic case 
of tesla (a seminal study on just how broken the system has been for 
nearly at least a century).

in general, as a group, we move towards certain ideas. it is the 
collective that invents. individuals express the invention, but it is a 
community of ideas. go check out the academic community a bit closer as 
they race to publish before the next guy - just for the glory.

so what is it about the hubris of business that makes it think it's 
ideas and inventions are solely their idea?

i think this is the biggest weakness in the system, and the second 
biggest weakness is that you can't stop other people having your ideas.

berners-lee didn't invent markup or hypertext, just put it together well 
(and i suspect as part of a much bigger effort), C followed bcpl (or 
b?), unix from multics, xml from the shortcomings of sgml and html.

time to go back to newton (1675) "if i have seen further it is by 
standing on the shoulders of giants"

rick

> Now, why should someone who puts a lot of effort into his/her
> work not be allowed to reap the benefits, just because someone
> else made the same effort earlier? What is so fair about that?
>
> Karl
>
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